Tucson II

            The Travel Season is fast approaching so we decided to have a Preliminary Travel Event just to keep in practice.

                        Well, that’s not what really occurred.

                        What really happened was Paula had some neck surgery which was successful in it’s goals, but due to the fact that she cannot endure any kind of pain medication, she had some severe reactions after surgery. This left her rather debilitated, never mind the pain from the surgery itself which could only be subdued with some Advil’s.  

                        Advance a week or so later and as recovery started to show its lovely head, along comes a bout of what was probably the flu and bronchitis. Still clinging to the respiratory issues of that incident and then having her cousin in Tucson, Arizona pass away, we decided to roll it all together and travel the two days to Tucson, attend the Celebration of Life service, and get Paula into some different air.

                                    So, here we are in Tucson.

                                    We were here in January of 2021 to visit her cousin and family and we always intended to return as this area is what can be considered Desert Gorgeous.

                                    We all have our Mind’s Eye vision of what a desert looks like…..  old, sunbaked cattle skulls, vultures circling overhead waiting for us to drop because we left our water bottles at home, Roadrunners craftily outwitting Mr. Wile E. Coyote, and of course, cloudless blue skies from horizon to horizon.

                                    I’ll bet that our collective vision also includes some cacti. Not just any cacti, specifically the Saguaro Cactus family.

                                    You know, the Marlboro Man astride his trusty steed silhouetted against the setting sun and the ubiquitous symbol of the West, that several-fingered cactus plant reaching for the sky.

                                    But wait a second!

                                    That can only happen here!

                                    Here in the Sonoran Desert of our Southwest and in northern Mexico. And then….. only a portion of the Sonoran Desert!

If you are in any other desert on the planet, you cannot see these gorgeous plants as they cannot and do not grow anywhere else.

                        There is another wonderful aspect of this Desert.

                        The relative humidity and grand expanses make it the perfect place for old aircraft to go and either last almost forever, or stay around to be used for spare parts, or wait until they may be needed again and get themselves some more flight time!

                        The “Boneyard” as it is affectionately called by any knowing aviation geek is located right here!

                        So, we are going to spend a few days down here exploring some of the other sights and sites that we left behind on our last trip. The “Boneyard”, PIMA Air and Space Museum, and some pretty nifty natural wonders await all of us in the next few days, so stay tuned for a few Blog Posts emanating from our Desert Gorgeous Southwest!

                                    If you are so inclined, go backwards in the blog Archives to January of 2021, January 14,15, & 16 specifically and you will find the other really great stuff that we saw back then and probably won’t repeat this time.

I promise you that you will enjoy them!

In the meantime, please enjoy this small Desert (Cacti) Solitaire photo essay!